Good reasons exist that Wednesday night's NHL Stanley Cup Finals Game 3 appeared on a cable channel most viewers would be hard-pressed to locate on their TV remotes in 10 seconds or less.

These days, the NHL exists mainly on Versus, a channel owned by Comcast that also specializes in bull-riding, fishing, hunting and videotape of stuff crashing and blowing up. But when the NHL playoffs have been on this spring, people have managed to find Versus. The ratings have been very good, something the NHL is not used to lately.

And they've been astoundingly good when the games have been carried on NBC. It helps that the Finals include two teams from top-5 markets, Chicago and Philadelphia. But still, a 4.1 rating for Monday night's Game 2 on NBC was immense. It's the highest national rating for a second game of the Finals in at least 35 years; 1975 is as far back as the records go. And I think it's safe to say NBC wasn't getting better than a 4.1 when Tim Ryan, Ted Lindsay and “Peter Puck” were promoting the sport back in the early '70s or when Bill Mazer and the legendary Dan Kelly were doing the NHL for CBS in the late '60s.

What does this all mean? A lot of people surrounding the sport are crediting the wonderful action in the Vancouver Olympics, augmented by the sparkling calls of Mike “Doc” Emrick, citing a possible carryover effect. But I think it was all merely a matter of exposure, a chance to show America how captivating the best hockey players in the world can be in a competitive circumstance.

Speaking of 1975, the product could not look more different now than it did back then. Hockey is still a rough, tough sport. But back then it was seen as brutal, full of fighting and goon squads, commandeered as it was by the “Broad Street Bullies” Flyers teams depicted so brilliantly in the current HBO documentary. Which is fine for hockey nuts but a real turn-off for families if you're trying to attract a mass American audience. Early UFC action of the '90s was famously dubbed “human cockfighting” by Sen. John McCain. But it had nothing on the NHL of the mid-'70s to mid-'80s.

The sport ascended to a golden age of greater action and less gore in the early '90s behind the great Penguins teams and extending through perhaps the NHL's most exciting Finals ever with the Rangers winning in 1994. Then, came a work stoppage at just the wrong time, one that toothless and clueless commissioner Gary Bettman did nothing to alter. The league has been paying for that loss of momentum ever since.

But gradually, the game has recovered, mostly unnoticed outside the major markets who really care. NBC/Versus' combined three-round average viewership (1.01 million) for the NHL playoffs is the most through three rounds since 2002 and up 8 percent over last year.

The skill level has never been better. Stars such as Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby aren't the only ones pulling this renaissance. The depth of speed and skill down through the roster of the Blackhawks team that appears destined to win it all is a perfect example of how much fun the sport is to watch when the games matter.

The NHL of today is so much better than decades ago in another way. In the same manner that the British Barclay's Premier League brings together some of the best soccer talent from all over the world, the NHL does for hockey, except more so. Whereas in the mid-'70s you only saw pretty much Canadians skating around in the 14 NHL cities, now you have a terrific blend of Scandinavians, Russians, Eastern Europeans and a greater share of Americans to go along with them. It is truly a world league unlike any other sport, the best of the best. The Olympics showed as much, redividing all that talent by nationality.

Now, let's take a little leap sideways. If American cities have become the playground for the world's best young talent, then why would it not make sense to come to America to get an education and play for a college team and show your wares to NHL scouts up close? Right now, club teams overseas fill much of that niche. But what if more college games were on TV? And what if the Big Ten Network was the venue, showcasing a Big Ten men's hockey league?

There's a Penn State graduate who could be right in the middle of such a scenario, should he so choose. He's a new billionaire, having just announced the sale of his substantial acreage in the Marcellus shale region in the Northern Tier to Royal Dutch Shell for the staggering sum of $4.7 billion.

Terry Pegula once bought up all that land as an oil wildcatter, drilling shallow wells and becoming wealthy enough from them to buy expansive homes in Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Boca Raton, Fla.; and Nashville. The Boca Raton estate is 7,933 square feet. The Nashville home, originally built by Roy Orbison, includes a recording studio, all the better for his independent Black River Music country label that includes Jeff Bates and Sarah Darling.

But the land he bought for oil is so valuable now because it's lousy with pockets of natural gas, an energy industry that just Tuesday received a huge green light from the Obama administration in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil leak catastrophe. Which is how Pegula just graduated from being merely filthy rich to one of the wealthiest men in America.

Oh, yeah. He's a big hockey fan. Grew up in the Scranton area. Has been a youth hockey coach. Loves NHL action.

There's a rumor afoot I cannot yet confirm that Penn State is looking into retrofitting the Bryce Jordan Center for hockey. I left a message for Tim Curley on Wednesday but heard nothing back. I've been told by PSU sources it would easily be an 8-figure undertaking, involving the dismantlement of the arena floor, demolition of some seats and the installation of a cooling system for the ice. That's a lot of coin.

But I know of someone who might not mind at least helping to make the outlay, not to mention the transition to varsity status. If such a thing were to happen. I'm connecting more dots than a kids' placemat at Denny's, huh?

Anyway, would you watch Penn State varsity hockey, both men's and women's on the BTN? Would you think about traveling up to a game or two if they held them in the Jordan Center? Ohio State's arena, the Schottenstein Center, is currently the dual home of the OSU basketball and hockey teams. The Buckeyes men's hockey team has played for decades in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, now 11 schools, with Michigan, Michigan State and Notre Dame. They draw an average of 3,500 fans and sometimes attract 7,000.

If Penn State made the transition to varsity, that would make six Big Ten schools with major ice hockey programs, enough to start a Big Ten championship if – and it's a big “if” -- those other five could be pried from their strong ties to the CCHA and WCHA (Minnesota and Wisconsin). And who knows what happens if a couple of good hockey schools come aboard in expansion?

“There are a lot of folks who've had this conversation about a Big Ten hockey league,” said Ohio State assistant athletic director Chris Schneider who's on the NCAA Division I hockey committee. “It comes up quite often. Is it possible? I'd say right now anything's possible.”

If there's ever been a time to make this leap, with the Big Ten Network flourishing, expansion on the horizon and hockey ratings on the rise, it would seem to be now.

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